The family-friendly 5K/Fun Run is open to participants of all ages and will take place Saturday, Sept. 6.

Equal Access Birmingham will host its inaugural Heart + Sole 5K/Fun Run on Saturday, Sept. 6, to raise funds for the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine student-run free clinic, which provides education and health care to Birmingham’s uninsured and underserved.

The Heart + Sole 5K/Fun Run — a family-friendly event open to participants of all ages — will begin at 7:30 a.m. for children ages 3-8. The 5K will begin at 8 a.m. on the UAB Campus Green. Register online.

The Best Medicine Show, a variety show featuring performances from UAB medical students, will raise funds for Equal Access Birmingham.

Students from the UAB School of Medicine will take the stage Friday, Feb. 28, 2014 at the historic Alabama Theatre for The Best Medicine Show, an annual philanthropic event showcasing the students’ creative sides with short digital films, music and dance. Proceeds from the event go to Equal Access Birmingham, a student-run program that operates a free primary care clinic for underserved people in the Birmingham area.

The Best Medicine Show is an opportunity for students to poke fun at medical student life and showcase student talent through live singing, dancing and acting, along with pre-recorded video skits.

“Although medical students spend a lot of time studying, we also share interests in a wide variety of other activities ranging from athletics to the outdoors to the fine arts. There often isn't a convenient way in medical school for students to express creative talent, so the Best Medicine Show strives to be that outlet,” says Andrew Chou, a second year medical student and producer of this year’s The Best Medicine Show.

UAB School of Medicine students have put on the annual skit night for more than 20 years, expanding its audience beyond fellow medical students to family, friends, professors and the public.

“The show is an opportunity for students to create and perform, for classmates to cheer each other on, for teachers to see their students in a non-academic light and for the public to see that their future doctors have a sense of humor and creativity,” Chou says.

The show also gives students a meaningful opportunity to serve the Birmingham community by raising money for Equal Access Birmingham. Last year, students raised $13,500 and planned to create an endowment to help ensure EAB’s financial sustainability.

And though the performers may be poking fun at their own lives, the show’s organizers say there will be acts for everyone in the community to enjoy.

“The whole premise of the show is that laughter is really the best medicine. That’s what we're about: coming together as a community to have fun,” says Ignasia Tanone, a fourth-year medical student and head of the show’s creative direction committee. “I think it's great as a point of pride for Birmingham. UAB is the community’s medical school, its students and its future doctors, who are doing something amazing and fun at the same time.”

The show begins at 7 p.m. inside the Alabama Theatre, 1817 Third Ave. North, Birmingham. Doors open at 6 p.m. Advance tickets are $7 for students and $10 for general admission. All tickets purchased at the door are $15. The student discount for advanced tickets will extend to students from other colleges and universities.

Students from the UAB School of Medicine will take the stage Friday, March 1, 2013, to showcase short digital films, music, comedy, dance and more at the historic Alabama Theatre for The Best Medicine Show, an annual philanthropic event benefitting Equal Access Birmingham (EAB), a student-run community service initiative that operates a clinic to provide primary care for underserved people in the Birmingham area.

The Best Medicine Show is an opportunity for students to poke fun at medical student life in live acts, songs and videos.

“Even though we are going to be doctors, that’s not all of who we are,” said Kara Graves, a fourth-year medical student and member of the show’s creative direction committee. “We want to share all the other parts with the Birmingham community.”

Graves said there is medical humor throughout the show, but that it is not the show’s total focus.

“You don’t have to be in medical school or a medical professional to understand the show,” she said. “We’re trying to make fun of all parts of life. We’re really hoping to share our humor and share our fun with everyone.”

The UASOM Student Senate, which hosts the show, raised $56,000 for EAB last year through sponsorships and donations, as well as match contributions from the Dean’s Office in the School of Medicine.

Best Medicine Show 20137 p.m.Friday, March 1Alabama Theatre, 1817 Third Ave. North

“We use the show as an opportunity to give the proceeds we raise back to the Birmingham community in a meaningful way,” said Omar Ahmed, a second-year medical student and producer of The Best Medicine Show.

The show begins at 7 p.m. inside the Alabama Theatre, 1817 Third Ave. North, Birmingham. Doors open at 6 p.m.

Advance tickets are $5.50 for students and $11 for general admission. Tickets purchased at the door are $15 general admission and $10 for students. The student price extends to students from other colleges and universities. A valid student ID is required.

Awards were given in four key areas — clinical care, medical education, laboratory research and patient-oriented research projects.

Eleven members of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Medicine faculty have been awarded grants totaling more than $1.4 million from the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation (HSF) General Endowment Fund (GEF) for fiscal year 2013. Awards were given in four key areas — clinical care, medical education, laboratory research and patient-oriented research projects — that demonstrated a multidisciplinary effort and the likelihood of long-term success.

“GEF grants encourage our faculty to think and act creatively to identify opportunities for significant advantages, and to find solutions to major scientific and health-care challenges within UAB,” said Ray L.Watts, M.D., senior vice president for Medicine and dean of the School of Medicine. “The GEF provides a unique opportunity among physician practices that allows us invest in ourselves to improve our future.”

The GEF has awarded $55 million since its inception in 1996. Awards for 2013 were made on Jan. 1; this year the grant application timetable will move up so funds can be distributed by Nov. 1, 2013.

“We had a very rich pool of applicants,” said James Bonner, M.D., president of the HSF and chair of the School of Medicine’s Department of Radiation Oncology. “The initiatives funded represent not only the caliber of our faculty but their dogged dedication to improving research, patient care and education.”

The awards are:

Clinical Care Initiatives“Shared Medical Appointments for Diabetes Mellitus,” 90-minute sessions for groups of up to 20 patients co-led by a physician and a certified diabetes educator that improves the efficiency of care delivery while improving patient satisfaction and outcomes. Principal Investigator – Amy Warriner, M.D.Award: $163,971

“Complicated Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), Barrett’s and Early Esophageal Cancer Interdisciplinary Clinic,” a multidisciplinary clinic to evaluate and manage patients with complicated gastroesophageal reflux and Barrett’s esophagus that could draw a large number of patient referrals and would build a database that would be key to future extramural funding.Principal Investigator – Shajan Peter Sugandha, M.D.Award: $181,658

Medical Education Initiatives

“Inter-Professional Simulation Development for Undergraduate Healthcare Education” creates the infrastructure and provides training to increase and enhance simulation education for medical students and creates the opportunity for teams of students from other health professions to participate in simulation learning as groups. Principal Investigator: Marjorie Lee White, M.D., MPPM, M.Ed.Award: $200,000

“How Much is an Educator Worth? Translation of education activities into work-RVU equivalents: the Education Value Unit (EVU)” will create a method for applying a monetary value to physician educators comparable to the value applied to growing a clinical practice.Principal Investigator: Gusvato Heudebert, M.D.Award: $74,000

“Enhancing Student Education in a Free Clinic by Use of Point-of-Care Technology” will enable two free clinics — Equal Access Birmingham, run by medical students, and the School of Nursing’s PATH clinic, both operated with M-Power Ministries — to purchase much-needed laboratory equipment that will provide hands-on opportunities for the students and improve patient care.Principal Investigator: Cynthia Selleck, DSNAward: $47,660

“Upgrade of the Flow Cytometry Capacity in the UAB CFAR Flow Cytometry Core” will increase capacity, provide greater sensitivity and expand the analytic capacity of a well-established core facility that supports a large base of researchers.Principal Investigator: Olaf Kutsch, Ph.D.Award: $150,000

“MicroLC for State-of-the-Art Lipidomics and Metabolomics at UAB” addresses a deficiency in current capacity at UAB and enables a priority area of research (metabolomics) of the National Institutes of Health by adding technology that will enable the visualization of small amounts of lipids.Principal Investigator: Stephen Barnes, Ph.D.Award: $66,550

Equal Access Birmingham, a UAB medical student group, will host the fourth annual Run for the Health of It 5K on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012.

This year’s run — the Mistletoe Race — incorporates a holiday theme and starts at 9 a.m. at Crestline Elementary School on West Jackson Boulevard. There will be free food available and a DJ. Participants are encouraged to wear holiday attire.

Register online here. Cost is $25 online, $30 at the door, and long-sleeved T-shirts are available for $18.

Proceeds from Run for the Health of It benefit EAB, a student-run initiative in the Office of Undergraduate Medical Education of the UAB School of Medicine that seeks to provide health care access to those in need within the Birmingham community, promote health education and raise awareness of local health disparities through the efforts of medical students and various partnerships.

UAB students will provide wellness care for underserved patients at a new free clinic.

Equal Access Birmingham (EAB), a medical student group at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, will open a clinic to provide medical care to underserved Jefferson County residents on Nov. 11, 2012. The clinic, to be located in the Church of the Reconciler, will provide basic primary care to residents in the Jefferson County Housing Authority Shelter Care Plus program.

The clinic will operate on Sundays from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. and will be entirely managed and run by UAB medical students, with medical oversight by physicians from the school’s faculty. EAB students have also staffed a free clinic associated with M-Power Ministries in Avondale since 2007. EAB will continue to staff that clinic, which meets on Wednesday evenings and is designed to help provide acute care for the medically underserved, in addition to the new primary care clinic.

The clinic’s patients will come from the Shelter Care Plus program, which works to provide affordable housing, job training and support for its approximately 100 participants.

“The new EAB clinic will add a medical component, providing ongoing primary care services to the program participants as they work to become self-sufficient and ultimately graduate and move on from the program,” says Richard Cockrum, president of EAB and a second-year medical student.

EAB was created in 2005 to provide UAB medical students with learning opportunities and service experiences with the underserved and vulnerable populations of the Birmingham area.

EAB Clinic Open House1-3 p.m.Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012Church of the Reconciler, 112 14th St. North

“We hope the new clinic will not only serve the population in a more sustainable, primary care manner but also expose pre-clinical students to a variety of health-care needs,” says Lizzy Varnell, a second-year medical student who is vice president of EAB.

The clinic will be housed in the Church of the Reconciler, 112 14th St. North, in Birmingham. It contains the standard equipment and materials found in a typical physician’s office. Medical supplies and equipment were purchased with funds raised by EAB over the past several years, matched by a donation from the School of Medicine.

EAB has also acquired a formulary of basic medications — to treat high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels, for example — that will be available free of charge to clinic patients.

“As we begin operation, our clinic will be staffed by medical students, but in the future, we hope to collaborate with other health professional schools such as dentistry, optometry and public health to provide a complete medical home for our patients,” says Nishi Shah, clinic director and a second-year medical student. “We also intend to offer counseling and social work services as we expand the clinic in future months.”

EAB will hold an open house at 1:00 p.m. on Nov. 11 to showcase the facility. The clinic will see its first patients later that afternoon.

The student leaders of EAB credit the lessons learned during the organization’s five years of service at the M-Power clinic as instrumental in preparing them to open the new clinic. They anticipate that the new location will provide medical students with a more complete understanding of the needs of the medically underserved.

“EAB exposes medical students to clinical and socioeconomic factors that contribute to health disparities,” says Cockrum. “Our goal is to train future doctors to provide quality care for all individuals and continue to work in underserved communities throughout their careers.”